greet apelles, greet ampliatus, my beloved in the lord. greet urbanus, our coworker in christ and my beloved stachys... >> the traditional view of the composition of the early christian communities is that they are from the proletariat. early marxist interpreters of christianity make a great to-do with this. it's a movement of the proletariat. it's essentially from the lowest classes. but if you actually look at the book of acts, and you look at paul, and you begin to collect the people who are named or identified in some way, here you have erastus, the city treasurer of corinth. >> narrator: an ancient inscription with the name of paul's follower, erastus, can still be seen in the ruins of corinth. >> you have gaius of corinth, whose home is big enough to let him be not only paul's host but the host to all of the churches of corinth. all of the little household communities can meet in his house at one time. you have stephanos and his household who have been host to the community. you have lydia in philippi, who is the seller of purple goo